Summary of the GEWEX international symposium on global land-surface evaporation and climate

Evaporation provides a significant energy input from land surfaces to
the atmosphere and is also a primary factor in the way that incoming
precipitation is lost from hydrological catchments worldwide. Therefore
correctly modelling the global land–surface evaporation is critically
important both for providing improved climate and weather predictions
and for interpreting the potential impact of global climate change on
water resources systems.
Scientists worldwide are working to improve the documentation of
land surface evaporation using understanding of the evaporation process
in combination with data from in situ measurements, earth satellite
systems, and model reanalyses. Consequently, there is an emerging
ensemble of estimates of global land surface evaporation. If these are
to be of value to benchmark Global Climate Model performance, then
there is a need to define the nature and extent of this ensemble.
It was therefore decided to bring together international scientists
working in this subject area to define the current status and guide
the future development of worldwide research into global evaporation
measurement and modelling.